Are we eating 'nanoplastics'?

Scientists say that tiny plastic pieces, less than a billionth of a centimetre wide, can enter the food chain at all levels in rivers and oceans.

The research shows the significant problems that plastic can cause to the wildlife in our oceans and highlights the urgent need to act now to stop even more plastic getting into our oceans.

Dr Sue Kinsey,
MCS Senior Pollution Policy Officer

The study, published in January, further reveals the extent of the plastic pollution in our seas, says MCS Senior Pollution Policy Officer, Dr Sue Kinsey: “The research shows the significant problems that plastic can cause to the wildlife in our oceans and highlights the urgent need to act now to stop even more plastic getting into our oceans.”

According to an article in the ‘I’ by Environment Correspondent, Tom Bawden, this research goes further than any other into how far plastic can travel along the food chain.

Plastic fragments stuck to algae at the bottom of the food chain and ended up, via a water flea and small fish, inside the study ecosystem’s top predator, a dark chub.

The research showed that nanoplastics penetrated the embryo walls of fish and were present in the yolk sac of hatched juveniles. This revealed that nanoplastics could easily be transferred through a food chain.

Nanoplastics were found in newly hatched fish where they had entered their livers leading to lethargy so the fish travelled over shorter distances.

“Our findings clearly show that plastic particles are easily transferred though the food chain. And they strongly point to the potential health risks of nanoplastics exposure,” said Professor Youn-Joo An of Konkuk University in Seoul.